Quad Sli?? Or ONE 8800 GTX??? Help?

die_for_me666

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Currently right now

my specs are as follows

Coolmax CTG 1kw Power supply
M2n32-Sli-Deluxe MoBo
2gb Corsair Xms2 pc2 6400
2x 320gb Seagate Raid 0
2x Evga 7950gx2 Quad Sli
fx-62 cpu
x-fi xtreme sound card

I use a Dell 30" monitor


Evga offers the 90 day step up program...

Here is my dilemma
I have had one card for 4 months and the other card for 1 month.

so i can only step with one card....

i was wondering if i should go with ONE 8800 gtx

OR

Maybe just a Physics processor?


Saving Money is NOT an issue as i can use the extra 7950gx2 in another build of mines....


Plz Help =) :?: :?:
 

prozac26

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I would stick to the dual 7950GX2s right now. It won't be much (if at all) of an improvement in performance, and its DX10 feature won't be used for a while.

Maybe you can step up one card, and try getting another GTX to SLI that. If you are able to do it, then that option would make most sense.

Also, forget the Physics processor, it's a total waste of money, it does nothing. Not worth it.
 

die_for_me666

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thanks man...i guess that's what im gonna end up doing.

can't quite afford a second GTX

and im not gonna be able to sell my gx2...

well, at 2560 x 1600 resolution on some games i get a little bit of lag during explosions at max settings....

examples are BF2142

and oblivion....


i thought maybe a physics processor might take the load of the gpu?
 

Eurasianman

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Psychic card won't fix your problem in those two games. Seeing as you're running at max resolution, I'd say stick with your Quad SLI. Like prozac said, it'll be a while till there are more DX10 games to make use of the DX10 that the 8800s have.
 

tphillips63

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I have a 590 system board and x6800 and HAD two 7950GX2's in quad SLI using the Dell 30" LCD and I never got very good performance at max res (2560x1600) in any game.
I have since bought two 8800 GTX's (drivers will not SLI for me yet) but one card is extremely better than the QSLI.

In default settings, NWN2 all game settings maxed, driver settings at default just rotating the camera around was very slow with the QSLI.

With the single 8800 GTX, same game settings, drivers at default it is more than twice as fast and lags only a bit with 8 party members and at least that many mobs.

IMHO QSLI is crap. As a single card on a 1600x1200 LCD the 7950GX2 is very good but higher it starts to slow down.
 

darkstar782

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You all forget that if he "waits" he looses the option to step up the newer card and then has two 7950GX2s that he needs to resell.

I'd say go for the single 8800GTX. Better image quality, probably slightly better performance (though not much) as QuadSLI has horrendous overheads, upgradeable to 8800GTX SLI, DX10 support...
 

big_tuna

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do the step up with the 1 card and use the other card for the other build or sell it.if your still not happy with performance then save for another card and sli later.from what i see you should be happy with the 1 8800 gtx card
 

mcain591

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if you NEED to get one or the other, get the 8800. A physics proccessor will actually slow performance, and not many games support it. Besides, the 8800 allows all of the eye candy :D
 

niz

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If you stay with what you've got and don't get the GTX you won't be able to do DX10.
Yes. And?

It's not an issue until DX10 games arrive, and by then 8800s might not handle them.

DX10 is somewhat of a long term issue.

>> by then 8800s might not handle them.
Why not? the 8800 is a DX10 card....

>> DX10 is somewhat of a long term issue

Flight Sim X is out already and supposedly does DX10 with a patch. Stuff like crysis and UT2007 are only 2 or 3 months away.
 

prozac26

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>> by then 8800s might not handle them.
Why not? the 8800 is a DX10 card....
So? It might not be powerful enough.

>> DX10 is somewhat of a long term issue

Flight Sim X is out already and supposedly does DX10 with a patch. Stuff like crysis and UT2007 are only 2 or 3 months away.
You'll need Vista for it, so there the patch might not be out for a while.
 

die_for_me666

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hmm thats exactly what ive been wondering about myself... most Mobo's now'adays (including mine) have a 32x max....

so amongsts to 4gpu's would that be a 8x each?

hmmm...

the reason i figured perhaps a PPU would help is because the new addition to the g80's was the physic processing....

i do know it sounded good...

There is definitely mixed opinions about it im seriously debating wether to ebay one and step up the other. Never actually thought about it considering i suck at selling stuff for some reason...


im not so much worried about the Dx10 compatibility...

Its performance....


I dunno Quad sli sounded like a nice thing to brag about bak in the day =)


but like you guys have said so far... Most games are not built for quad sli...

and how many will support it you know?


Thanks soo much tho guys for the info.
 

redwing

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If you got that much cash to blow on a system, why not get the best?
Aside from DX10 support you also get the "EVGA service gnomes" dispatched to your place to replace the card in case of a failure. Not.
 

hatsurfer

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The 8800GTX will rock your HD resolution monitor. You might need a second card to max out and run v-sync(if wanted) at your res. Qsli had it's run, but the 8800's dominate for the time being. I personaly would take advantage of the step-up program while you have that option.

FYI.
There have been some shakey driver issues since launch with the 8800's in sli. I have only been able to use the ones on the driver CD. EVGA did a mainboard BIOS update on the 680i's recently that fixed some other sound issues with sli. I havn't seen very many problems with just 1 card. The drivers will continue to mature.
 

Heyyou27

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True, but the problem with quad sli is that you are splitting a x16 bandwidth among two graphics cards, and not two cards on two slots, so what you get is four cards running on x8 bandwdith, causing quad sli to be weaker than a single gtx
Once again, PCIe bandwidth has NOTHING to do with the poor performance of Quad SLI. The lack of 4 way AFR in Direct X9 and poor software support/implementation are the things causing the poor performance for Quad SLI.